Former Dortmund star dies
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Article summary
Former West Germany and BV Borussia Dortmund forward Lothar Emmerich has died at the age of 61.
Article body
World Cup glory
The highlight of Emmerich's international career came in 1966, when his spectacular strike helped West Germany to a 2-1 victory against Spain and guaranteed their progress to the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals. He was then part of the team beaten 4-2 by hosts England in the final. Yet Emmerich would make only five appearances for his country, all in 1966.
Scoring spree
That same year, he was top scorer in the Bundesliga with 31 goals for Dortmund, with whom he had claimed the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and German Cup 12 months before. In all, Emmerich scored 115 goals in 183 league games for the Westfalenstadion team, before moving to Belgium's VAC Beerschot. He was the Belgian league's top scorer in 1969.
Dortmund devotion
In the late 1990s Emmerich, who leaves a fiancée and two children, returned to Dortmund to work with the club's supporters. Dortmund chairman Gerd Niebaum said: "'Emma' was a fighter. He was not one for big words and never behaved like a star. He was one of us, a Borussia man from head to toe."
